Sunday, September 17, 2017

DACHAU-KZ - SATELLITE CAMPS - PART 21 Alphabetical Order - N

NEUSTIFT
The sub-camp Neustift (Tyrol-Austria) is mentioned for the first
time on October 10, 1942, in the records of the International Search
Services. It existed throughout the period of two and a half years
up to May 4, 1945. The village of Neustift is located approximately
30 kilometers from Innsbruck in the Stubai Valley at a height of 993
meters in a broad valley bottom surrounded by the Stubai Alps. In
September 1942, the SS High Command decided to build an SS High
Mountain School at Neustift. The choice of the place was due to the
fact that in November, 1939, a high mountain range, which had been
set up by the Oberkommando -OKW- (High Command) of the army, was to
be re-enacted as the Gebirgsjäger Schule (The Mountain Corps
Military School) . SS-Obersturmbannführer Eberhard von Quirsfeld was
commissioned by SS Headquarters to carry out the construction and
extension, as the original facilities were too limited at Neustift
for basic mountain exercises.

SS-Obersturmbannführer Eberhdard von Quirsfe

Quirsfeld remained from 15 September 1942 until the arrival of the
US troops on 3 May 1945 commander of the Hochgebirgsschule (Mountain
Corps School) and at the same time, that of the sub-camp Neustift.
The members of the commander's staff were Helmut Schön, the company
commander Ferdinand Steiner, and a camp doctor, a camp dentist, an
administrative director, the Spiess (First Sergeant), as well as a
Hauptsturmführer, with a task not clearly defined. As an inspector
of the Hochgebirgsschule,functioned SS Brigadeführer Karl Ferdinand
Reichsritter von Overkamp. The administration of the school was
subordinated to the SS-WVHA in Berlin. Together with the
instructors, the school staff comprised of 60 people. The actual
training at Neustift started in 1943.

FollowingWorld War II, Oberkamp was
extradited toYugoslavia,
where he was tried for war crimes. He was sentenced to death and
hanged inBelgradeon
4 May 1947.

On October 13, 1942, a transport of a total of fifty prisoners from
Dachau arrived at Innsbruck, with 31 German and 19 Polish nationals.
In the first two transports, 30 prisoners were divided up for the
camp I (Reichsstrassebauamt) and 20 prisoners for the camp II
(Fulpmes-Neustift). However, no subdivision was apparently carried
out for this village, and the only sub-camp, namely the
SS-Hochgebirgsschule Neustift, was the only one mentioned by the
prisoners during later investigations. It was clear from the
repatriation lists of December 1942 that the camp was exclusively
called 'Hochgebirgsschule Neustift'. The prisoners were quartered in
an existing empty barrack, which stood 50 meters away from the newly
erected training barracks. These had been erected two years before
on behalf of the Reich Road Construction Office
(Reichsstrassenbauamt) - Innsbruck for workers of the intended
Cross-Alpine Connecting Highway (Queralpen-Verbindungsstrasse) which
was never materialized.

Training area of SS-Maintain Battalion near Neustift

The prisoners were guarded by a platoon of ten to twelve men, older,
partly wounded ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) from Siebenbürgen, and
the Banat. They lived together in a barrack, in which three smaller
rooms with barred windows for prisoners was used, and a larger room
for the soldiers. The prisoners were generally overseen and reported
to a commander in charge. In Neustuft, a number prison commanders
replaced each other very often. This method of rotation was for some
reason rather high. It could be due to the fact,that most of
them were ethnic Germans and easy going,sic. By the end of
the year 1942 the 30-year-old, who had been from Innsbruck,by the
name of Friedrich Pötter was in charge. He was portrayed as human in
his dealings with detainees. For a short time SS-Obercharführer
Arnold followed him. From January 27, 1943, to June 13, 1944, the
50-year-old SS chief officer, Wicklein, was in charge as the
SS-commanding officer, who had already been in the guard company at
Dachau since May 1941. Immediately before that he was stationed as
the commander of the sub-camp Munich-Freimann. In 1944, Karl Raush
was in this position. The last commanding officer, was finally SS
subordinate leader Otto Dertinger. This SS team had a commanding
officer above them. In the memories of prisoners, only one name is
mentioned: SS-Unterscharführer, EWolf, who was regarded as rather
'sharp' and 'rabble-rouser.'
The work force, which initially composed of about 60 male prisoners,
was reduced to approximately 20 to 30 during the winter months. In
the period between spring and autumn, the number returned to their
normal strength of 60. On October 13, 1942, Karl Wagner was
appointed as Kapo, who continued in this function until April 1943.
He was succeeded by Hugo Jakusch, who, until the liberation of May
1845, acted as a Kapo. It was determined that Wagner was better used
as overseer of the work commando as an experienced and tested
bricklayer, rather than as a Kapo who as a rule did not physically
work. The characterization was confined to the appointment of Kapos
only, since there were neither Camp Elders nor Block Leaders, as was
the case in lager sub-camps.

Neustift Village

The first task of the prisoners was the construction of the High
Mountain School: The construction of the work- and living barracks,
the construction of a parade ground and an ammunition depot. After
the construction, they were used individually as carpenters,
electricians, bricklayers and Boot-makers to provide work within
their crafts and auxiliary services for the Hochgebirgsschule. They
were not divided into permanent working commissions, but were used
on a case-by-case basis according to existing work requirements. The
payment for working hours were settled by the SS-WVHA, Department C
(Building Management)
The camp was not fenced, the prisoners who had the confidence of
the commanding officer were allowed to work under guard in the
village, for example, as a harvester or for household repairs. They
were rewarded for this with food stuff (Naturalien) by the
inhabitants, of which their guards also profited. This working
commando was equipped with a kitchen,(probably a Wehrmacht portable
field kitchen,sic.) The supply is described as barren but more
substantial than in the parent camp (i.e Dachau). On the initiative
of the Menses-daughter (Tochter) Luise Kempf, villagers at the
Mesnerhaus brought together food for the prisoners. Visits by
members of the prisoners, was generally forbidden, but could be held
in Neustift village through the intermediary of the residents.
Letters, which were also written on unofficial stationery under the
commandant Wicklein, were sent uncensored via middlemen. The
prisoners were also allowed to use the medical and dental care of
the well-equipped High Mountain School.
Wehrmacht - Field Kitchen

Two prisoners were killed in Neustift. The proceedings resulted in
criminal proceedings in the years 1963 and 1973, without a guilty
verdict, or any verdict, being passed. On 19 August 1943 Josef
Scheiblecker was shot. The prisoner, who was missing from the
Abendappell (Evening Roll Call), was found in the private apartment
of a female villager who had been scammed with him. According to
different witness statements, it could have been either a
commissioned execution by the commanding officer Wicklein, since
Sscheiblecker knew too much about him. According to another version,
it was a question of jealousy between the recently transferred
executioner SS-Private Hafner and the prisoner.
A second death occurred after a failed escape of two German
prisoners in February 1945, during which one prisoner was killed in
an avalanchehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzJ3cL3f1a0
The second prisoner returned to Neustift, he hid in the village and
was discovered. Prior to be taken to Dachau, he was shot. The Kapo
Hugo Jakusch fled into the mountains with a few fellow inmates at a
time which was most dangerous to prisoners, just before the
liberation by US troops, (enemy advance,sic) while rumors were
circulating. The troops of the 7 US Army reached the Stubaital on 4
May 1945 and liberated Neustift the following day. They met 34
prisoners.
View:YouTube: Victory Round-up May 194:5:
https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=n96hb8Uqb8g - surrender

Author German Text: Albert Knoll

NUREMBERG (NÜRNBERG)
On May 12, 1941, 58 prisoners of the KZ-Dachau were taken to the
Nuremberg SS-Kaserne( Garrison) at Frankenstrasse 204. Thus, the
first K-sub-camp was established in the 'City of the
Reichsparteitage Nürnberg' (Reichs Party Meeting Nuremberg). It was
part of the first generation KZ-sub-camps, which the SS set up for
their own needs. The prisoners were housed in a cellar of an
adjoining building of the SS barracks, which was called the
H-building because of its design on the ground plan and served as a
gymnasium and drill-instructions. The barracks were situated on the
edge of the Reichsparteitagsgelände (Reich Part Meeting Area),
between 1936 and 1939, on the p;ans of the architect Franz Ruff,
were commissioned by the SS. It was to be used as an accommodation
for the crews during the Reichsparteitagen, as an annex for higher
SS ranks during the Reicchsparteitage )Meetings). In fact, since the
Party Meetings were not held during the war, the buildings were used
to train SS-Radio Transmission Units

Reichsparteitag 1934, Luitpoldarena, "Totenehrung" (honouring of dead): SS-leader Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler and SA-leader Viktor Lutze on the terrace in front of the "Ehrenhalle" (Hall of Honour); in the background: the crescent-shaped "Ehrentribüne" (literally: tribune of honour)

From the outset, the KZ-sub-camp of the SS-Garrison was divided into
two branches: most of the prisoners worked for the "Working
Community Accommodation" or the 'Building Activity-Waffen SS and
Police Nuremberg Reserve Department' . The main task of the
KZ-prisoners was to begin construction work in the area of the
SS-Garrison. As one of the prisoners, the Kapo of the sub-camp Hugo
Jakusch from Munich, remembered, for this sub-camp, mainly young men
who had learned a handy profession were selected. They built
garages, laid electric cables, and covered roofs in the barracks
area. On their arrival in Nuremberg, the population, who had
apparently tossed prisoners with stones. This may have been the only
case, were SS-guards had to protect the prisoners' column. Among the
first prisoners from Dachau were 28 Germans, 16 Poles, ten Czechs,
PSV (Polzeiliche Schutzverwahrung) and 'AZR' (Arbeitszwang Reich)
prisoner.(Forced Labour-Reich)The prisoners assigned to the 'SS News Service (Nachrichten)
Department' were, as the surviving transfer lists suggest, made up
of tradesmen especially shoemakers, tailors and hairdressers
Bomb Damage at Nuremberg

At the beginning of the air raids on Nuremberg the prisoners were
therefore used from the SS-Garrison in the debris clearing and the
reconstruction of armaments enterprises. Hugo Jakusch and Jan
Predski, both prisoners of the first transport from Dachau,
remembered especially the working commando at Faun in the
Wachterastrasse, which was heavily hit in August 1942. After the
reconstruction within four weeks the Minister of Armament Albert
Speer had promised their freedom during a visit to Nuremberg for
their rapid rebuilding. Yet the two detainees were not released. In
August, 1943, Faun's factory was destroyed a second time and this
time it remained in ruins.
After the transfer of prisoners from the KZ-Flossenbürg to the
SS-Garrison Nuremberg as early as February, for some reason the SS
carried on its own sub-camp as 'Nuremberg' in its administration as
from June 16, 1943, while the new prisoners were termed as sub-camp
KZ-Flossenbürg and kept separately administrative wise under those
headings. The number of prisoners fluctuated according to the very
incomparably preserved documents as a sub-camp, they fluctuated
between 41 and 175, and in the later recalled memories of the
prisoners, however, they claimed the figure between 100 and 300.
The bombing war led to an increased need of labor for debris
removal and changed the character of the KZ-sub-camp in the
SS-Garrison. Outside working commandos in armaments factories, such
as in the Rudolf Chillingworth premises n Nuremberg, and the bomb
removals in Nuremberg itself, now came to the fore. According to the
detainees, the air raids of the affected city districts were
devastated, the prisoner's work commandos recall the total
destruction of part of the city during their interrogation after
1945. For this reason in the years 1944/45, additional prisoners
were transferred from the KZ-sub-camps Pottenstein and Hersbruck, to
Nuremberg. A small commando about 20 prisoners secured after the big
air attack on Nuremberg on 2 January 1945 for the SS and police
leader Benno Martin his Nuremberger Office/Service Villa in the
Virchowstrasse 19, which had already been hit 1942 by bombs for the
first time

Aerial photo of the Congress Hall, 2009 - rebuilt

The Congress Hall (Kongresshalle)
is the biggest preserved national socialist monumental building
and is landmarked. It was planned by the Nuremberg architects
Ludwig and Franz Ruff. It was intended to serve as a congress
centre for the NSDAP with a self-supporting roof and should have
provided 50,000 seats. It was located on the shore of and in the
pond Dutzendteich and
marked the entrance of the rally grounds. The building reached a
height of 39 m (128 ft) (a height of 70 mwas planned) and a diameter of 250 m
(820 ft). The building is mostly built out of clinker with a facade of granite
panels. The design (especially the outer facade, among other
features) is inspired by the Colosseum in Rome. The foundation
stone was laid in 1935, but the building remained unfinished and
without a roof. The building with an outline of an "U" ends with
two head-buildings. Since 2001, the Dokumentationszentrum
Reichsparteitagsgelände (Documentation
Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds), with the permanent exhibition Faszination und Gewalt (Fascination and
Terror), has been located in the northern wing.[6] In
the southern building, the Serenadenhof, the Nuremberg
Symphony Orchestra have
their domicile

Finally, from Nuremberg in 1944, the founding of another very small
sub-camp in Eichstätt took place. According to prisoners questioned
in1945 the situation in the SS-Garrison as well as the individual
outside working commandos and of the sub-camps established around
Nuremberg which they (i.e.the prisoners) testified as comparatively
good. They had a firm roof over their heads, seem to have been
half-fed enough and had a job that was not physically beyond any
performance limits. Murder on the part of the SS could not be
proven. In any case, debris clearance and bomb attacks have cost
some prisoners lifes. From only one of the more than ten commandos
of the sub-camp SS-Garrison, SS-Hauptscharführer Kurt Erich
Schreiber remained as a brutal individual in the memory for some the
prisoner

SS-Hauptscharführer Kurt Erich Schreiber -sentenced to 20 years
jail, during the Flossenbürg Trials

. The sub-camp of the SS-Garrison was evacuated in April 1945. At
least 9 prisoners managed to escape. On April 26, 1945, most of the
prisoners arrived at KZ-Dachau. Another part of the prisoners was
probably evacuated via the KZ-sub-camp Hersbruck and then driven
towards Dachau. From there, they marched then further in a southern
direction.

The Nuremberg SS-Garrison and their facilities was used by US
Units stationed there since April 1945 until 1992. After their
withdrawal, the buildinsgs were administrated by the Federal German
Republic. After an elaborate reconstruction, the Federal Office for
the Recognition of Foreign Refugees moved into the main building.
The adjoining building, where the KZ- prisoners had been housed, was
demolished to make way for a parking garage. In another
sub-building, the 'Z-Bau', a self- supporting cultural center took
its place.
The Central Office of the Provincial Administration Authorities
encouraged the process in the Nuremberger SS-Garrison, but no
process took place. In the Nuremberg Memorial Culture Center,
KZ-sub-camps played no role - the legacy of Nuremberg's National
Socialist Regime was too exaggerated as a 'city of the
Reichsparteitage' and the 'Nuremberg laws'. The story of the
KZ-sub-camp of the SS-Garrison Nuremberg is, however, a part of the
history of the Reichsparteigeländes and a testament to the violence
of the facade of the monumental Reich-Party-Meetings, which was
fascinating for many.

About Me

Dachau-Ost, (now living in Auckland), Bavaria=Bayern (Manukau City), New Zealand

It is well known that Dachau is located just North of Munich, Germany. I lived in the old SS-Hospital Haus.No 52B for 10 years. I did publish my German ID but had to delete certain entries due to Identity Theft. I am now living in New Zealand since 1956 my country of adoption, still married at the age of 85 with three great grand children,have three sons and a number of relations in America, Australia, Switzerland and Germany. Otherwise of reasonable heath, although slow in my movements. My hobbies: Travelling to other countries meeting and trying to understand other cultures, supporting a school of street kids in India for the last 25 years.